Communication can be limited to texts and phone conversations. There can be a lot of guesswork in understanding the other person’s intent and message without visual cues. You sometimes wonder where the other person even is, based on the background noise of their environment. You miss out on the subtle hints of body language and facial expression that you would catch if you were physically present.

Okay, so maybe comparing a long-distance, amorous relationship to a remote usability session is a stretch, but both situations tackle the peculiar challenges of participating in a conversation without being physically present.

Here at UserTesting, remote studies (both moderated and unmoderated) are the bread and butter of what we do. Conducting moderated sessions remotely cuts out the cost of running a dedicated lab, opens up recruitment to test participants outside of your immediate geographic area, and is more convenient for participants who don’t have to factor in the logistics and timing of getting to the test location.

We hope that you find the list of tips below from our experience will help you to take advantage of this fast and flexible user research method.

1. Explaining the remote process to participants

It can be intimidating to take part in a remote moderated session. Maneuvering the online meeting tools and interacting with a faceless voice can be daunting.

Providing participants with ample instruction on how to join and what to expect in advance can assuage lingering concerns. Include in your moderating script a step-by-step breakdown of what they will see, what you will share with them, and what they will share with you, and inform them that the session will be recorded.

If the participant will be showing their screen to you, ask them to close any material on their desktop that they don’t want shared with you before you start recording. This dialogue and openness about the motivations of the study will help build trust between the tester and moderator.

2. Checking the participant’s screen

Whether you, as the facilitator, are sharing your screen with the participant or vice versa, confirm what the participant is seeing on their screen before getting started.

Some online meeting tools may show the moderator a different set of features than the test participant sees. This can lead to confusion during the test if you ask a question about an area of the screen they cannot see.

Ask the participant to explain what they see on their screen. Make sure that the window that contains your testing material has been fully expanded. This will reassure you that any difficulties the participant encounters are part of the design of what you are testing, and not because part of their screen has been obscured or not fully expanded.

3. Paying attention to non-visual cues

One of the most difficult aspects of moderating a remote session is understanding your participant’s reactions and thoughts. Since you aren’t sitting next to the participant, you need to make sure they continue to speak their thoughts aloud, whether they are confused, engaged, or upset. Ask, “What are you thinking right now?” or “Can you explain to me why you are doing that?”

Keep an ear out for any sighs or mumblings and follow up with participants to understand what this signifies. Don’t discount any auditory indicators. Throughout your session, be vigilant about reminding a test participant to think aloud and elaborate on why they are taking certain actions.

4. Dealing with disturbances

Unlike in-person moderated sessions, which are conducted in a controlled environment, your participant will be in the comfort of their own home or in a place of their choosing, not yours. Although you’ve already explained the importance of setting aside a time and space that is private and quiet, interruptions can happen. You’ll have to roll with the punches when it does.

Ask the participant if they need a moment to sort out any interruptions on their end. Reiterate that keeping interruptions to a minimum will let you finish the session on time. If other noisy disturbances occur, such as an ambulance passing by or a phone ringing, ask the participant to pause their comments until it passes so that they don’t have to repeat themselves.

5. Having a backup

Things will go wrong from time to time. This is true for both in-person as well as remote moderated sessions. During an in-person moderated session, as long as you are within hearing range of the participant, there’s not much that will get in the way of the participant being able to communicate directly with you. However, the online conferencing software and internet that gives us the ability to connect to participants in far flung places can also cut us off from them, which could possibly complicate your study.

For your own peace of mind, and the integrity of the session, always make sure to have a recording backup.Quicktime on Macs offers an easy-to-use screen recording feature, while there are various other free tools for Windows that can also record your screen.

Final thoughts

There’s no need to go it alone. At UserTesting, we can handle the logistical preparation to set you up for success. Whether you would like to moderate yourself or have a member of our research team moderate for you, we can tailor your study to meet your objectives and deliver the recorded sessions in no time.

We’ve come a long way in usability testing from the traditional two-way mirror testing labs. By keeping in mind these few tips, remote, moderated testing will expand the horizons of how often you test, who you can include, and what you can test.

]]>0Jennifer Winterhttp://www.usertesting.com/http://www.usertesting.com/blog/?p=220122015-07-30T19:04:36Z2015-07-30T19:02:32ZRead More]]>
Don Draper would never make it as a modern marketer. While he may have been advertising gold in his time, things have changed—a lot—since then. The modern marketer has a lot more on their plate than a catchy jingle and beautiful print ad in the Sunday paper. Increasingly, marketers are adopting aspects of multiple roles, from UX researcher and designer, to CX manager, to business analyst.

There are many facets to your role as a marketer, and since we’re a friendly bunch here at UserTesting, we want to help you succeed. Take a look at the five traits all rock star marketers have. How about you?

Data driven

In the past, marketers had limited channels—primarily print, television, and radio—and as a result had minimal data to shed light on the success of each campaign. There were no reliable means to track who saw an ad, read an article, or responded to a direct mail campaign. Advertisers could only try correlating magazine subscribers to sales, or eyeballs on a billboard by foot traffic. But as a marketer today, you’ve got more data than you can can handle.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed with all the data that’s out there. Many organizations even hire specialists who focus solely on gathering and interpreting data. And while you may not necessarily own this responsibility, the underlying data is definitely something you need to pay attention to.

Click rates, social shares, and web traffic, just to name a few, give you valuable insight on the ROI of your marketing dollars. And that data is nearly real time, which means poorly performing campaigns can be scrapped in favor of higher performers or adjust your demographics on the spot—if you’re paying attention.

The most successful modern marketers get their hands dirty with data on a daily—even hourly—basis, allowing them to be nimble and targeted with their strategies, and improving their ROI.

Listens to customers

While data plays an important part for marketers, it can also be a handicap if you’re not careful. All the data in the world isn’t going to help you one bit if you don’t understand the why behind your customers’ actions and preferences. The best marketers know their customers are their best source of intel, and they talk to them often.

In the past customers had limited options to share feedback. If they had a suggestion or complaint—or even praise—they could write a letter, maybe call the company, and share their story with friends and family. But now the customer is driving the conversation about companies, using just about every digital platform you can think of, and even the old-fashioned methods, too.

Listening to your customers not only helps you ensure they’re happy, it also gives you invaluable insight into how they use your product (or your competitor’s), what challenges they need addressed, and what they want and expect from your company.

Savvy modern marketers have their ears to the cloud and regularly monitor social channels, liaise with customer service and sales teams, conduct user research, and even get out of the office and talk with customers face-to-face. They’re not afraid to hear harsh feedback, in fact, they want it! The more customer feedback, the better. They use that information to continually evolve their company’s image and offering, giving customers what they want and need.

Always experimenting

Great marketers are obsessed with experimenting. From A/B testing, to user research, to consumer insights, marketers are always looking for a way to validate their process. Just about anything can be tested, which makes every campaign, initiative, or asset a potential subject for an experiment.

Experiments give marketers useful, measurable data that can guide their strategy. Instead of trying out an email subject line for a sales campaign and crossing their fingers that it’ll work, they test two, or maybe more, to see which performs best. After a brief period of testing, these marketers can adapt to incorporate what they’ve learned from their experiments. As a result, the finished product is more targeted, economical, and ultimately more effective.

Helping instead of selling

There’s one aspect to marketing that never goes out of style: being helpful. What’s different now, is that customers have more choice than ever before. As a marketer you’re now partially responsible for establishing trust with consumers, and you don’t do that by trying to sell your product. You do it by figuring out what your customers need, and how you can help with whatever it is you’re offering.

This is why marketing strategies have changed since Don’s time. Now you win over customers by giving them something of value before they make a purchase. You build trust and develop a relationship.

Think of it this way: As a marketer, if you build the relationship, the sales will come.

Perpetual learner

As a marketer, you know you don’t know it all. And while an MBA is great, but it’s not the only thing you’ll need to succeed. The best marketers are voracious learners. They read blogs, try new technology, go to conferences and meetups, take classes, and even get certified in related disciplines to round out their skill set.

No matter what kind of degree you have (or don’t) on the wall, making daily learning part of your job will fuel inspiration and lead to a better understanding of your market and consumers, not to mention more effective campaigns.

While Don enjoyed near celebrity status back in the day, I doubt today’s marketers would trade places with him. The tools and resources we have now empower us all to be legendary marketers, if we have the chops—and the traits—to get the job done.

]]>0Spencer Lanouehttp://www.usertesting.com/blog/?p=219182015-07-31T18:22:51Z2015-07-28T22:41:52ZRead More]]>In this article we explore the research of how people experience the decision-making process, and how you can apply proven psychological principles to increase sales online.

How much choice is too much? The common belief is that more choice is better. But when it comes to online sales, is that actually the case?

They set up a jam tasting booth in Draeger’s, an upscale grocery store in Menlo Park, California. Half of the time they displayed 24 different flavors of jam, and the rest of the time they only displayed 6 flavors. They looked at two things in particular during their research; in which scenario were people more likely to:

Stop and sample some jam

Buy a jar of jam

Here’s What They Found

The results were counter-intuitive. When researchers displayed 24 flavors of jam, 60% of people stopped, and 3% of those who stopped bought a jar. But when they displayed 6 flavors of jam, 40% of people stopped, and 30% of them bought a jar of jam.

So even though people were initially more attracted to the display with more options, when it came down to buying, consumers were at least 6 times more likely to buy when they encountered 6 options than when they encountered 24. But why is that?

Why Fewer Options Lead to an Increase in Sales

When people are presented with an exhaustive list of options to choose from, they find it very difficult to make a decision. The more choices you offer people, the more likely they are to delay choosing—even if it goes against their best interest. Psychologists call this choice overload.

The process of understanding all the information, evaluating the options, comparing them to competitors, and deciding whether or not to buy takes so much mental effort that it’s easier to just choose nothing and move on to something else.

Photo Credit: Sharon & Nikki McCutcheon

Enter: Paralysis of Analysis

In another study, Vanguard (the giant mutual fund) gave Iyengar access to the 401(k) retirement plan records of 739,749 different employees at about 2,000 different companies. Her team of researchers found that for every 10 mutual funds an employer offered, the rate of participation decreased by 2%. That means if a company only offered 5 funds, 10% more employees would participate than if they offered 50.

Why would so many people pass up thousands of dollars each year from their employer, who would be happy to match their contribution? Well, because with 50 options, it’s really difficult to figure out which fund to choose. The confused mind freezes up.

With 50 options, it’s really difficult to figure out what to choose. The confused mind freezes up.

When you give people 50 choices of mutual funds, or 24 types of jams, they become paralyzed and end up choosing nothing instead. You can increase the chance of a purchase simply by reducing the sheer number of options. For example, Procter & Gamble saw a 10% increase in sales when they went from 26 different kinds of Head & Shoulders shampoo to 15. But you’re probably wondering how this works on digital channels…

How to Increase Sales: Fewer Options, More Sales

Fewer options leads to more sales in grocery stores and higher participation in 401(k) plans, but does this work online? Absolutely! The psychological principle of choice overload directly applies to how users navigate websites and apps.

If you’re willing to get rid of extraneous, redundant, and unnecessary options, you’re likely to see more sales, lower costs, and a better user experience. Now let’s look at some examples of companies in different industries that are benefitting from offering a limited number of options:

Ecommerce (Amazon)

Even though Amazon offers millions of products, they avoid choice overload in a few different ways. First, they highlight 4-7 different categories of products on their homepage, each with 2-7 product options (depending on the size of your screen).

They also apply this principle on product pages by offering 3-10 accessories in the “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought” section (again, depending on the size of your screen).

Tech Products & Web Apps (Twitter)

Back in 2009, Twitter used to ask users to take 7 different actions on their homepage. Here’s what it looked like:

Even though you could do all these things on Twitter’s homepage, they really only wanted you to do two things: sign up or sign in. One of the ways they’ve increased their conversion rates over the years was to remove all of the extraneous elements and really focus on driving the two primary user behaviors that matter to them. Here’s what their homepage looks like in 2015:

B2C Tech Products (Basecamp)

Basecamp is a product management tool that requires users to pay a monthly fee for their service. With SaaS products, people generally don’t want to pay for more or less than they need.

Basecamp does a great job of providing options for their light, medium, and heavy users without making the decision overwhelming. They offer 5 different packages and tell users exactly what’s different between each of them. This makes it easy for users to evaluate which option is the right fit.

B2B Tech Products (New Relic)

New Relic is a software analytics platform that also requires users to pay a monthly fee. They offer three packages: lite, pro, and enterprise. They don’t overwhelm users with too many options, and it’s easy for users to tell what they’re going to get, and how it differs from the other options.

The lite package allows curious users to test the waters and see if the product is right for them. The pro package is appealing for the small business folks. And the enterprise package caters to larger companies who have the budget and the need for a high-touch relationship, customized features, and customer service as soon as they need it.

The Categorization Technique

Finally, there’s another technique that will help you eliminate choice overload and increase your online sales. It turns out people can handle more categories than we can handle choices. We don’t get as overwhelmed by categories because they help us tell things apart.

Amazon uses categories to make it easy for users to tell things apart.

In another study, Sheena Iyengar found that if you take 400 magazines and divide them into 20 categories, people will believe you’ve given them more choice than if you took 600 magazines and divided them into 10 categories.

If you have a wide variety of products, put them into categories. Once a user selects a specific category, give them more options to choose from. They’ll be able to understand the information better, it’s be easier on their mind, and they’re more likely to make a purchase.

Users will be able to understand the information better, and it will be easier on their mind.

For example, instead of giving people 24 options, give them a choice of 6 categories, and then another choice of 4 options. When you try to give people 24 options right off the bat, less people are going to click on any of those options.

Zappos is a great example of this technique. When you look at the left hand side of their homepage you’ll see that they have: Shop Women’s, Shop Men’s, and Shop Kids’. Underneath each of those options are 4-5 choices. They make it easy for users to tell things apart and quickly find what they’re looking for.

How Many Options Should You Give Customers?

When it comes to online sales, the old adage is true: less is more. Consumers are at least 6 times more likely to buy when they encounter a limited number of options than when they encounter an exhaustive number of options. Some choice is better than no choice, but if you give people too many options they’re far less likely to click, subscribe, or buy your product.

]]>1Jennifer Winterhttp://www.usertesting.com/http://www.usertesting.com/blog/?p=219152015-07-31T18:23:06Z2015-07-28T20:58:32ZRead More]]>Every Tuesday, UserTesting studies a different topic to share here on the blog. We hope you’ll learn some nifty research techniques and get inspired to run some insightful tests of your own. Enjoy, and check back in next Tuesday!

First there was vinyl. And then the 8-track, followed by the cassette tape (remember mix tapes?) and not long after that the first digital music formats appeared. Walls of beloved vinyl or CDs were no longer needed—your entire library could be stored in your pocket. And while Apple wasn’t the first to recognize the lure of digital music, they played a major role in taking it mainstream, thanks to iTunes (and every i-device that followed).

But things have changed since iTunes’ initial release back in 2001. Consumers’ preferences for music consumption are changing once again—from digital downloads to streaming—and music services like Spotify and Tidal are taking over. Naturally, Apple wanted to get in on the action and launched Apple Music at the end of June this year.

This is new territory for Apple, and we wanted to find out how new users felt about the onboarding process and the overall usability of the app. Would it be the magical, intuitive experience Apple’s known for? We ran a study to find out.

The study

We ran a two-part, unmoderated, remote study with five first-time users to get their impressions of the Apple Music onboarding process, and then the overall usability of the app after one week of use. We asked users to share their impressions of customizing their favorite genres, artists, and getting started with Apple Music. We also wanted to know if there was anything about the process that stood out—good or bad—and what they’d like to see improved. Here’s what they had to say:

Sign-Up

Users were first asked to sign up for Apple Music. A few noted that it wasn’t immediately clear where they were supposed to go to sign up, and had some difficulty figuring out where to sign up due to a lack of a clear call to action on the home screen, although they were all able to figure it out eventually.

But once users figured out where to go, they all considered the sign-up process clean and straightforward. Users especially appreciated the minimal amount of steps required.

Onboarding

After signing up, it was time to start customizing their preferred music genres and artists. Users were presented with dozens of red circles containing different music genres. The app instructed users to single-tap the genres they liked and double-tap the genres they loved. Alternatively, they could hold down a circle to indicate their dislike for a particular genre.

Most users appreciated this interactive process of customizing their music preferences, but one disliked the interactive process because it seemed inefficient. A few users also felt the bright red color of the dots made them more difficult to read.

Although single-and double-tapping were considered intuitive gestures to express affinity for specific genres, users were not keen on having to hold down circles to remove them. Users also noted that it took too long to remove unwanted genres by holding them down, and as a result, the process became frustrating.

Although the new interface took some getting used to, users enjoyed customizing their genres and artists, and some even referred to the process as fun and different.

After identifying their preferences, users had no difficulty jumping right in to start listening to music. The clear play icons displayed on the list of album artworks made it very easy for users to immediately listen to the tracks they wanted to hear.

After users completed the initial onboarding steps, we asked them to check back in with us after using the app for about a week. While users were generally able to navigate through the app with ease, there were a few features that users felt could use some attention.

Playlist

Only one user encountered this issue, but it underscores how users have adapted to other services, like Spotify, and expect similar functionality from Apple Music. This user attempted to create a playlist by adding a song to his library, but wasn’t given the option. Instead, the user had to add the song to his library, navigate back to the library, create a new playlist and then add the song to the new playlist.

Removing songs

One user indicated that it was difficult to determine which song he has already downloaded and added to to library without looking in the menu and seeing the word “delete.”

Carousel

The application displays the content in a way that led two users to swipe the images as if it were a carousel. One user notes that she continues to try swiping, even though she knows it’s not a carousel.

Adding music to listen to offline

The option “Make Available Offline” appears inconsistently throughout the application. Users were asked to download song to listen to offline, however, the option that occurred the most was the “Add to My Music” option. That option only adds the music to the user’s icloud library and only allows the user to stream the song.

Conclusion

Just about every time Apple releases a new product, there’s high demand and high expectations from consumers. In Apple Music’s case, the company did not disappoint. Despite a slight learning curve with usability and features, the more users interacted with the app, the more they liked it. Most thought the app was sleek and modern, and stated they would be using it to stream music going forward.

Many users also thought that Apple Music did an especially good job of discovering new music, based on their preferences.

Users also appreciated the level of personalization, especially with the “For You” portion of the app.

While Apple may be a bit late to the streaming party, it seems users really like the first iteration of the app. With a few small tweaks, Apple Music just might become a real competitor to streaming trailblazers like Spotify.

Special thanks to UserTesting researchers Justin Shaw and Anthony Raad for conducting this study!

There’s a question I often ask myself whenever I’m studying someone’s experience with a company: “Is it UX or CX?” Is there really any difference?

The answer became clear to me after my husband and I returned from our honeymoon travels recently. While the trip was great, if anything could go wrong, it usually did. From grounded flights to missing bags, to phantom hotel bookings, we had it all.

And in each situation, what made the experience agonizing or amusing, was how the customer experience and user experience worked together—or didn’t.

As CX continues to pick up steam, organizations are faced with the challenge of figuring out how the discipline fits into its existing strategy, especially with UX. While there are similarities in the objectives and audiences for both disciplines, they also have unique purposes.

Yet that doesn’t mean the two shouldn’t work together. In this post I’ll share just a few real-life examples from my trip to illustrate the difference between the user experience, the customer experience, and how they can (or should) work together.

User or customer?

Any confusion about the differences between the UX and CX disciplines, makes a lot more sense when you look at how we define the user and the customer.

The customer can sometimes be a user, and the user can sometimes be a customer. But sometimes a user is just a user and not a customer and sometimes a customer isn’t a user. Clear as mud, right?

Fortunately for you (and not so fortunately for me and my husband) I got a first-hand lesson in the difference during our trip. Let me take you through our first travel snafu to illustrate the differences between being a user and a customer.

I was a user when…

The night before our flight I pulled up United’s website to check the status of our flight and check in. During the check in process, the site mentioned they have a handy app that would speed up the process and allow me to store our electronic boarding passes. Great! I downloaded it and followed the prompts to complete the check in process.

So far, my experience with United was great. Until…

I was a customer

The morning of our flight we arrived (early) to find the United terminal surprisingly crowded. It was so packed that we had to go outside to make our way to the appropriate ticket counter to check our bags.

The lines stacked up, and passengers were getting antsy—and angry. There must’ve been thousands of people waiting in line, but only a handful of agents scattered across dozens of counters, and not a single one of them was helping passengers.

No updates were given. No communication or even attempt to interact with passengers was made, leaving an anxious group of travelers to check their watches and worry about missed connections and lost bags.

When we finally made it to the desk, we were told that their “computers were down” and they’d have to give us a manual boarding pass. Oh, and those bags they just checked for us? We’d have to pick them up and re-check them when we changed planes in New York before heading off to our international destination.

By now, that great user experience with United’s app was the furthest thing from my mind. The lack of information and horrible customer service, combined with what we later learned was a nationwide computer outage (which also grounded every flight in the U.S.) had me renouncing my 20 year allegiance to United.

The difference between UX and CX

My travel adventures are a great way to illustrate how UX and CX work together and how they’re different. While one aspect of my experience was enjoyable and helpful (using the app and website), everything else wasn’t so great.

This can work in reverse, too. My overall opinion of United might be just as damaged if the app and website failed to get me the information I needed, or was difficult to use—even if the rest of my trip went perfectly smooth.

One way to help identify the differences between the two disciplines is with the professionals that practice them.

UX professional

UX professionals are focused on making a product easy and enjoyable to use. They want users to be able to achieve or complete a desired goal or task, and feel great about the experience. The products they work on can range from websites, apps, and even non-digital formats like physical forms or marketing materials.

CX professional

CX professionals are responsible for the experience a customer has across every touchpoint with their brand. This includes interactions via phone, in person, and anything digital as well. The customer experience includes UX. These professionals are focused on making sure the entire experience is positive and enjoyable. They ensure the needs and goals of the business are aligned with what real customers want and need.

Integrating UX and CX

If you look at my flight check in process as a whole, it’s easy to lump my user experience in with my experience as a customer. And while they clearly work together, they’re not the same thing. But does that mean we should look at them completely separately?

Currently many companies seem to think they should remain separate. According to Forrester Research, many companies see the value of both UX and CX, but they keep the disciplines separate. In a 2014 survey, they found that 38% of companies had specific teams to handle UX and CX, but they were separate. The UX teams tended to be aligned with the technology side of the business, and CX with marketing. Only 13% of companies surveyed combined the UX and CX efforts under the same umbrella. But is that the best strategy for modern companies?

As mobile continues to become the platform of choice for consumers, businesses are increasingly focused on creating a seamless omnichannel customer experience. That means the service offered through traditional channels like call centers and brick-and-mortar customer service, need to be just as effective and enjoyable as a sleek, new app or site—and vice versa.

Conclusion

Are UX and CX different? Absolutely. Should they be considered completely separate and exclusive disciplines? Not if you want to win the loyalty of your users and customers.

I started out with a great user experience with United, but customer service threatened to end my relationship with them completely. The two are inextricably linked, and neither will fully succeed without the other.

My story does have a happy ending, however. After grounded flights, nearly missed connections, and lost bags, we ended up receiving fantastic service on the last leg of our flight. Amazing what an empathetic employee and a few glasses of champagne can repair, at least for now. But United isn’t off the hook with me just yet. They’re officially in the penalty box. One more crummy experience—UX or the overall CX—and I’ll likely be finding a new airline.

The lesson to be learned here, is that any one component of the customer experience can make, break, or even repair a company’s relationship with its customers. No matter how your company has UX and CX organized, consistently working together will ensure a seamless omnichannel customer experience that fosters loyalty and trust from users and customers alike.

Type the name of almost any successful consumer web company into your search bar and add the word “addict” after it. Go ahead, I’ll wait. Try “Facebook addict” or “Twitter addict” or even “Pinterest addict” and you’ll soon get a slew of results from hooked users and observers deriding the narcotic-like properties of these web sites. How is it that these companies, producing little more than bits of code displayed on a screen, can seemingly control users’ minds? Why are these sites so addictive and what does their power mean for the future of the web?

We’re on the precipice of a new era of the web. As infinite distractions compete for our attention, companies are learning to master new tactics to stay relevant in users’ minds and lives. Today, just amassing millions of users is no longer good enough. Companies increasingly find that their economic value is a function of the strength of the habits they create. But as some companies are just waking up to this new reality, others are already cashing in.

First-to-mind wins

A company that forms strong user habits enjoys several benefits to its bottom line. For one, this type of company creates associations with “internal triggers” in users’ minds. That is to say, users come to the site without any external prompting. Instead of relying on expensive marketing or worrying about differentiation, habit-forming companies get users to cue themselves to action by attaching their services to the users’ daily routines and emotions. A cemented habit is when users subconsciously think, “I’m bored,” and instantly Facebook comes to mind. They think, “I wonder what’s going on in the world?” and before rationale thought occurs, Twitter is the answer. The first-to-mind solution wins.

Manufacturing desire

But how do companies create a connection with the internal cues needed to form habits? The answer: they manufacture desire. While fans of Mad Men are familiar with how the ad industry once created consumer desire during Madison Avenue’s golden era, those days are long gone. A multi-screen world, with ad-wary consumers and a lack of ROI metrics, has rendered Don Draper’s big budget brainwashing useless to all but the biggest brands. Instead, startups manufacture desire by guiding users through a series of experiences designed to create habits. I call these experiences “Hooks,” and the more often users run through them, the more likely they are to self-trigger.

I wrote Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products to help others understand what is at the heart of habit-forming technology. The book highlights common patterns I observed in my career in the video gaming and online advertising industries. While my model is generic enough for a broad explanation of habit formation, I’ll focus on applications in consumer Internet for this post.

Trigger

The trigger is the actuator of a behavior—the spark plug in the engine. Triggers come in two types: external and internal. Habit-forming technologies start by alerting users with external triggers like an email, a link on a web site, or the app icon on a phone. By cycling continuously through successive desire engines, users begin to form associations with internal triggers, which become attached to existing behaviors and emotions. Soon users are internally triggered every time they feel a certain way. The internal trigger becomes part of their routine behavior and the habit is formed.

For example, suppose Barbra, a young lady in Pennsylvania, happens to see a photo in her Facebook newsfeed taken by a family member from a rural part of the state. It’s a lovely photo and since she’s planning a trip there with her brother Johnny, the trigger intrigues her.

Action

After the trigger comes the intended action. Here, companies leverage two pulleys of human behavior—motivation and ability. To increase the odds of a user taking the intended action, the behavior designer makes the action as easy as possible, while simultaneously boosting the user’s motivation. This phase of the Hook draws upon the art and science of usability design to ensure that the user acts the way the designer intends.

Using the example of Barbra, with a click on the interesting picture in her newsfeed she’s taken to a website she’s never been to before called Pinterest. Once she’s done the intended action (in this case, clicking on the photo), she’s dazzled by what she sees next.

Variable reward

What separates Hooks from a plain vanilla feedback loop is their ability to create wanting in the user. Feedback loops are all around us, but predictable ones don’t create desire. The predictable response of your fridge light turning on when you open the door doesn’t drive you to keep opening it again and again. However, add some variability to the mix—say a different treat magically appears in your fridge every time you open it—and voila, intrigue is created. You’ll be opening that door like a lab animal in a Skinner box.

Variable schedules of reward are one of the most powerful tools that companies use to hook users. Research shows that levels of dopamine surge when the brain is expecting a reward. Introducing variability multiplies the effect, creating a frenzied hunting state, activating the parts associated with wanting and desire. Although classic examples include slot machines and lotteries, variable rewards are prevalent in habit-forming technologies as well.

When Barbra lands on Pinterest, not only does she see the image she intended to find, but she’s also served a multitude of other glittering objects. The images are associated with what she’s generally interested in—namely things to see during a trip to rural Pennsylvania—but there are some others that catch her eye also. The exciting juxtaposition of relevant and irrelevant, tantalizing and plain, beautiful and common sets her brain’s dopamine system aflutter with the promise of reward. Now she’s spending more time on the site, hunting for the next wonderful thing to find. Before she knows it, she’s spent 45 minutes scrolling in search of her next hit.

Investment

The last phase of the Hook is where the user is asked to do bit of work. This phase has two goals as far as the behavior engineer is concerned. The first is to increase the odds that the user will make another pass through the Hook when presented with the next trigger. Second, now that the user’s brain is swimming in dopamine from the anticipation of reward in the previous phase, it’s time to pay some bills. The investment generally comes in the form of asking the user to give some combination of time, data, effort, social capital or money.

But unlike a sales funnel, which has a set endpoint, the investment phase isn’t about consumers opening up their wallets and moving on with their day. The investment implies an action that improves the service for the next go-around. Inviting friends, stating preferences, building virtual assets, and learning to use new features are all commitments that improve the service for the user. These investments can be leveraged to make the trigger more engaging, the action easier, and the reward more exciting with every pass through the Hook.

As Barbra enjoys endlessly scrolling the Pinterest cornucopia, she builds a desire to keep the things that delight her. By collecting items, she’ll be giving the site data about her preferences. Soon she will follow, pin, re-pin, and make other investments, which serve to increase her ties to the site and prime her for future loops through the Hook.

Superpower

A reader recently wrote to me, “If it can’t be used for evil, it’s not a superpower.” He’s right. And under this definition, habit design is indeed a superpower. If used for good, habits can enhance people’s lives with entertaining and even healthful routines. If used to exploit, habits can turn into wasteful addictions.

But, like it or not, habit-forming technology is already here. The fact that we have greater access to the web through our various devices also gives companies greater access to us. As companies combine this greater access with the ability to collect and process our data at higher speeds than ever before, we’re faced with a future where everything becomes more addictive. This trinity of access, data, and speed creates new opportunities for habit-forming technologies to hook users. Companies need to know how to harness the power of Hooks to improve peoples’ lives, while consumers need to understand the mechanics of behavior engineering to protect themselves from unwanted manipulation.

What do you think? Hooks are all around us. Where do you see them manufacturing desire in your life?

Here’s the gist:

The degree to which a company can utilize habit-forming technologies will increasingly decide which products and services succeed or fail.

Habit-forming technology creates associations with “internal triggers” which cue users without the need for marketing, messaging or other external stimuli.

Creating associations with internal triggers comes from building the four components of a “Hook” — a trigger, action, variable reward, and investment.

Consumers must understand how habit-forming technology works to prevent unwanted manipulation while still enjoying the benefits of these innovations.

Companies must understand the mechanics of habit-formation to increase engagement with their products and services and ultimately help users create beneficial routines.

]]>1Jennifer Winterhttp://www.usertesting.com/http://www.usertesting.com/blog/?p=219002015-07-31T18:28:18Z2015-07-24T23:42:52ZRead More]]>With technology advancing faster than ever before, it’s no surprise that companies are getting creative with their advertising. However, Apple’s new targeted ad system is stirring some people up. Apple was recently awarded the targeted ad technology patent, which would allow them to advertise based on someone’s available credit. Apple would analyze how likely it is that someone would buy an advertised product, based on their available credit, and assign different ads appropriate for each person’s purchasing power.

We want to know if you think this targeted ad system is justified or outrageous!

]]>1Jennifer Winterhttp://www.usertesting.com/http://www.usertesting.com/blog/?p=218912015-07-24T23:03:48Z2015-07-24T23:03:48ZRead More]]>
It’s Friday, you made it! When you’re done with the cat videos and weekend planning, we’ve got a few great reads to kick off your weekend. Check out our favorite articles from this week:

FastCo.Design pulls back the curtain to address what’s really going on behind all those beautiful UIs. Does it really help us to be shielded from everything that’s going on behind the scenes?Read More »

When you’re conducting UX research, your goal is to get consistent and reliable feedback on how users naturally interact with a product. You’re looking to find pain points in the user experience, identifying any areas where users become confused. But if your test plan is faulty, then you won’t be able to tell what was actually confusing the participants: the product or the test itself.

This is especially true when you’re conducting remote, unmoderated UX research. Since you don’t have the ability to backtrack or correct yourself in the moment, your test plan has to act as its own moderator. You need to be sure that the test plan will guide the participants through the test without confusing them, handholding them, or leading them to the “right” answer.

These six tips for writing questions will help you avoid errors in your test plan, saving you the time and hassle of having to re-do faulty research. Memorize them, print them out, and stick ‘em to the wall… and you can be confident that your test questions will produce sound responses.

1. Every word matters

Take your time and read (and then re-read) every word you’ve written in your test plan. It takes patience, but you’ll rest easy knowing that you can trust your own data.

And don’t forget to use plain language! Pay close attention to any words that could be confusing, too technical, or easily misinterpreted. Test participants often interpret questions very literally, so always ask yourself, “How could someone misunderstand this?” when you write a question.

2. Ask one question at a time

If you ask multiple questions within a single task, you’ll run the risk of getting incomplete answers.

Bad example: How long have you been doing business with this company, and what was the original reason you decided to use their services?

To make sure you get answers to both parts of the question, try splitting it up into two separate questions:

How long have you been doing business with this company? (A written response question)

What was the original reason you decided to use this company’s services? (A verbal response question)

3. Don’t use leading questions

The way you word your questions can skew your test participants’ responses. Be careful to keep your questions neutral and not leading.

Some researchers feel pressured by their design teams to only find the positive parts of the user experience. But remember: although getting only positive feedback may feel good, it won’t help your team build a better product.

Bad example: How much do you love this app?

Good example: On a scale of 1-5 (1=Strongly Dislike, 5=Strongly Like), how much do you like or dislike this app?

4. Define key concepts prior to asking a question

Make sure your test participants understand what you’re asking them to do! This is particularly important for measuring task success. If you are going to ask respondents to self-report on whether they successfully completed a task, it’s imperative that you define exactly what success looks like. Tell your test participants exactly what successful completion will look like, so they don’t have to wonder whether or not they completed the task successfully.

5. Every participant needs to interpret your question the same way

Any room for creative or personal interpretation leads to bogus and inconsistent data. Check to make sure you’re not using any words that have multiple meanings or regional differences.

6. Test your questions with one participant before launching a large-scale study

You’ll often notice mistakes in your question construction that you can correct before moving forward with the larger sample. To save time and budget, run a simple pilot study with one person to catch any mistakes you might have made. Once you’re confident that your test plan is error-free, then you can release the test to the rest of your participants.